Spinning the little sheep

I finished spinning the guild fibre today, even plied it and I have 85.5m before washing.   This is what it looks like:

 And this is what I'm knitting it into; the handspun will be the body of the sheep and I've some 4-ply in black that I'll use for the legs, face and ears; I'll be holding that doubled over.  I didn't really want to purchase more yarn considering the size of my stash.   I think my sheep will have golden eyes with any luck; black won't show up.

I think he'll be gorgeous, and seems appropriate somehow.  I had thought about a bag, but 85m isn't that much and it doesn't say bag to me.   I didn't have much left on the bobbin after I finished plying either, good luck meant just this wee bit

Pretty good judgement for a change; normally I have quite a bit left on the remaining bobbin.

No sewing done today, but at least the fabric for the second skirt is preshrunk now.  Tomorrow I shall be going to the guild (if my nose cooperates).   Tonight I'm knitting the gift for my mother and watching the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice (and hoping Wales wins the rugby).

Finally, here's youngest with Star, she was purring at the time.  She's never happier than when someone is patting her, or even better scratching her chin.  Ian is always very proud when he gets her purring.

Finally, craft time!

Admittedly not a huge amount of craft time, but I have cut out a skirt in this fabric:

From memory this is one of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks prints on a cotton voile base; very good quality and it's going to be a full circle skirt.   I've not had one of those for years, but seeing as I love the vintage look I can pair this with a nice fitted top or twin set (have to knit that first).   It may even look good with my one hand knit top.   I will probably have to wear a half-slip under it and I suspect later I'll have to downsize it, but you can't sew for the size you might be when you're short on stuff to wear now.

I've also prewashed this:

This will be a tiered skirt to replace my current one which is really well past it's use by date.  The current one has various laces on it, I don't think I have any in my stash that match this so it'll be plainer, but the fabric has the slightly gathered look that works so well for these skirts.

Once these two are all finished, which shouldn't take too long as both are simple patterns, I'll be making some new tops for the boys for the summer. 

Got a little more tidying done too, less paper in the bedroom now, still a wee way to go yet though; some dustbunnies in there are getting vicious!

The boys got home from Grandma's today too, they had a great time and maintained good behaviour until this afternoon.   Not quite so good at the beach.  They went to see the latest Spy Kids movie which they loved!
When they got home they wanted to go on the computer, unfortunately for them there was baking instead.   We made chocolate brownie; yum!

It's Raining, It's Pouring!

And oh boy, was it raining!   Really pouring down and major wind as well.   This is what I could see out the window for most of the day

Now, it looks like the camera is out of focus, it's not.  The rain on the window is so thick and horizontal that you couldn't see clearly outside.
I went out at one point to check for mail, there wasn't any but the water race beside our driveway was up past the bottom of the top board.   Thomas and I went out again half an hour later after the rain had eased up a bit and I took these photo's

This was the most noticeable damage that I spotted on the first trip down the drive; there were 2 others like this, so there will be a trip to Mitre 10 to get some new boards.

It's dropped, you can see the bottom of the top board; 30 minutes earlier you couldn't.   The concrete you can see at the front is the top of the pipe that goes under the road; I could see perhaps 1mm of that when I took this photo; earlier it wasn't showing at all.

This is the end of our driveway; about 30cm deep.  It should be all gone by now.  Before the earthquakes I'd never seen the water get this deep; it gives some indication of just how the drainage is affected even in areas like ours that don't look that bad.   I really hate to think what it was like over in the eastern suburbs.

One good thing though, no good reason to go anywhere so I got the sewing room finished; I've still got fabric to go through, but this is the finished room.

Much better, I'll hopefully get some fabric cut out tomorrow which would be nice.   The jersey on there is my Jetty tunic which is blocking after being washed this morning.  This will let me know if I do need to add some more to the bottom.

Day 18 - getting tidier!

I spent much of the day tidying the sewing room today.  It's not finished yet, but is much closer now.  2 bags of recycling, another of rubbish and a lot of reorganisation turned it from this:

To this:

 Definitely better; still a couple of containers to go through and those folders on the table will go back under the chest of drawers after I vacuum.  Then I can do something about blocking my Jetty jersey properly and maybe cut out a skirt to replace my favourite tiered skirt; which to be honest is past tired and should be well and truly retired.   A full circle skirt would be nice too and then maybe some stuff for the boys.

A quick update on the cat door.  Neither cat is keen, though both have used it to get out and Ray at least has investigated getting in; I keep hearing it click as it releases, but she doesn't come that inch further to actually open the door.   Star is definitely not keen, but if she wants to get in, she'll have to use it!

Day 17 - installing a cat door

The new cat door arrived this morning, so of course I had to install it straight away.  First thing was to get the old one off; that was fairly quick and then this is what that looked like

Not overly clean, and the glass underneath was worse; so a cleaning up using water and paper towels ensued.  Once that was done the next step was of course the reading of the instructions, followed by checking to make sure it would cover the hole; which it did.   I determined looking at the fitting system that it would need some help to stay put, so out to the garage to find some silicon sealant/glue; this was recommended for larger holes in the instructions too.   Found some that was still good and applied it to one side, put the insert on, realised it was on sideways before it sealed thank goodness; adjusted, checked it was level and then blocked the whole door off from outside and in for 2 hours to allow it to cure enough to hold.   2 hours later, the other side has the same treatment and I get the rest of the door on.

Isn't it nice?   Batteries in, learning button hit and no cats to be found anywhere.   Another hour later and one turns up; won't go through, but does go through enough to be picked up on the learning program.   Another hour later and I nab cat number 2 (Star) and give her the same treatment; so far neither has gone through under their own recognizance, but at least no-one else can come in!  Here's hoping they work it out over the next day or so so I can get rid of the cat litter tray.  Unfortunately installing this thing took up much of the day, so no real tidying.   I did however go through a container in the sewing room and tidy that; as well as choosing some fabrics that have to be sewn up soon.   I found a textured cotton voile which will make a lovely tiered skirt; and a printed cotton voile for a circle skirt; just got to get those cut out.   There's also some lovely quilting cotton that I got to make myself a dress; but I'll wait on that one.

Last night I got some drumcarding done too.  This is Romney/Merino/Silk/Glitz/Corriedale/Merino/Silk/Cotton all carded together which I'm hoping to spin in the next week or so.  2 batts; one pass.  I tried a second pass on a bit and decided it wasn't going to work with the cotton component.   Fingers crossed it spins well.

Tomorrow the boys go to Grandma's for a couple of days, tidying, sewing and spinning will be happening; oh and installing a new smoke alarm in the hall as the old one went doolally this morning and the hush button wouldn't work.   Battery has been removed and I'm grateful we have the bedroom ones as well.  I'll pick up a replacement tomorrow at the same time as the PVC cement for the downpipes and the milk and juice (though from different stores)

Day 16 - Exercise and rugby

This morning I slept in and then went straight to our Boot Camp which we do every Sunday morning.  I did pretty well I think, and our trainer said I did too which is a good sign.   Unfortunately since then I've been sitting on my bum working.
No tidying done and I can't see much being done tonight either with the semi-final of Rugby World Cup tonight between New Zealand and Australia.   Like most Kiwi's I'm really hoping that tonight NZ wins; and like many I was disappointed that Wales lost last night.  I might get some knitting done though; will have to be something simple though as even I will probably find the semi-final a tad exciting.  Might try and get that drumcarding done too.

Day 15 - a day of much cleaning

Earlier this week a box arrived at the door, I saw it on the 1-day webiste and thought it'd be a really good idea; here it is:

Now, the reason I wanted it was this:

This is the dining room carpet; ick is probably the right word for this.  Now in the next year it should be replaced with vinyl planks, but in the meantime something needed to be done.  We can't do the new planks until EQC has assessed the house and we know what else needs to be done; that could be a bit yet, especially if it gets to the dollar value where Fletchers takes over.

This morning I unpacked the new beast and this is the same spot of carpet after cleaning:

Still not as clean as I'd like, but cleaner than I expected so I'm happy enough!   Once the carpet in there is replaced we'll still need it as eventually we'll be replacing the carpet in the lounge and the bedrooms.   They're worn through to the backing in some areas.

After I'd finished cleaning the floor I did the dining room chairs as well which look much better!   I also did the lawn and then went into the sewing room to get more done on that.  This is how it looked before I started cleaning:

at the moment it still looks like this, however I've cleaned out 7 drawers and refilled 5 of them.  I've also sorted through the top 3 baskets and have put more yarn away too.  Hoping to get more done tomorrow so I can work out where to put all the stuff that's currently on top of the table and sewing desk.

In other news, my Wollmeisse arrived from The Loopy Ewe; this is the reward for completing Camp Loopy a month or so back.   I'm really happy with it, there were a few skeins other people got that I hoped I wouldn't get, luckily mine is a lovely colour!

Day 14 - table, what table?

Today was supposed to be spent tidying the table in the sewing room, but I got sidetracked.   There was some Left for Dead 2 time on the Xbox; Thomas and I are doing quite well on that now.   The boys were off to swimming and 10-pin bowling so we could play R18 games safely.
I did get a little tidying done in that room, just not on the table; in fact I think there's more stuff on there now!   I've cleared out 7 drawers though and am planning on getting them sorted tomorrow.  At the moment I have 4 plastic bags, one with general sewing things, one with quilting specific stuff, one with general craft stuff which includes my needlefelting gear, my Dymo label maker and also my bejeweller.   The final one is crochet and knitting stuff; now that I have my needles mostly away this isn't too big.   I've got my straights in a needle roll I made a while back, my circulars either in a Della case or on the quilted holder I made last week.   I think I need to make 2 more rolls; one for crochet hooks and the other for my DPN's.  I might not use either very often, but I'd prefer to have them in one as it makes it easier to find what I need.
As well as those bags I also have a pile of scissors, I love my scissors.  I have 3 for cutting out including a pair of Ginghers that I've not yet used; my Kai are my favourite at the moment, but the Mundial are good for slippy fabrics as they have a slight serration.  I've also got several embroidery pairs too; plus some in my knitting bags.   Good tools are important; just as well really considering how many I have!

I've decided I'm going to cast on one more project for knitting too.  Wandering Cat Yarns is having a KAL for a project using her yarns or her patterns, the project can be anything, but must be gifted afterwards.  This is the perfect time for me to cast on for my Dalhousie Mitts.   The pattern is hers, and the yarn I've chosen is hers as well; I'm planning on making them for my Mum as I already have a pair of thicker fingerless mitts in a similar colour.   She has arthritis in her hands and I can see her getting a lot of use out of them next winter.
This is the picture from the original pattern:

and this is the yarn I'll be using:

I think this should work brilliantly and will be nice and cheery in the middle of winter.   I'm going to try and get them done for Christmas; I know Mum will appreciate my knitting simply as she liked the shawl I made for her a while ago.  She's even taken that to her craft group and shown it off where it was much admired.
Admittedly it's going into mid spring here, but that's ok; winter will come way too soon!

Day 13 - T shirt Tutorial as promised

First up you need a good fitted t-shirt pattern.  The one I have is from the first Ottobre Woman magazine, it's also available as a separate pattern from their Website (2nd from top on the RHS).   For me it's an excellent pattern with a good size range, different sleeve and neckline options as well.   Next time I might remember to add a touch more length, but otherwise it'll do me nicely.

Next choose your fabric; the fabric I'm using is a cotton/lycra blend with a dot print.  It has good recovery and the recommended amount of stretch; it's also fresh and summery.

My method doesn't come from the Ottobre mag or from Kwik Sew; it's just what I've ended up doing after following their instruction before now and choosing what worked best for me.

Now, in my machine arsenal I have a sewing machine (2 actually), an overlocker and a coverhem.   It is possible to sew with just the sewing machine, but I really do recommend an overlocker as well if you can manage it.   On this t-shirt I only used the sewing machine once.

First step for me is to turn up the hems.  I normally sew a 1"(2.5cm) hem but turn up 1 1/4" to ensure that my hem is properly caught on the wrong side.

This is my coverhem, she's a Janome CP1000.  I've threaded her up with normal polyester thread in the two needles and the looper is using woolly nylon; as you can see I've bypassed the tension disc for the nylon as otherwise it'll pull and the hem won't look good.  You may also be able to see I've used a permanent marker to mark the 1" mark on the machine as a guide.  I'm using the left and right needles, not the middle one; in fact I don't think I've ever used the middle one.  I start sewing at the beginning of the fabric, much as I do for sewing, but as there's no backstitch it's right on the edge; often I'll use a scrap from a previous project to start in the middle of just to get things going without bunching.

This is the finished hem on the back; as you can see with the woolly nylon being untensioned it's looking really flat and professional.  Once I've finished the first piece I then continue sewing the next piece.  I do this for front, back and both sleeves.  You can do this in the round, but I find it a pain to do and always seem to have problems with finishing the ends.

At the end I sew off onto a scrap piece of fabric, I then cut the threads between the t-shirt and the scrap.   I then leave the scrap under the foot for the next start.

My next step after separating all the pieces from eachother is to cut a piece of twill tape (you can use clear elastic if you prefer).  I cut it to the size of the shoulder seam; this lends stability so the shoulder won't stretch out of shape with wear.  Most RTW garments have this touch too.

Making sure the tape, front and back shoulder seam are even, and right sides together get ready to stitch.  You could pin it, but for such a short and straight seam I don't bother.  That and when using my overlocker the less pins the better.

Start overlocking.   If using your sewing machine for this you'll need to use the machine's overlocking stitch; or failing that stretch or zig-zag will also work.

Whoops, the twill tape moved towards the blades a bit here, however it will still do it's job and the fabric did not move so all is well.

Here you can see both shoulders are sewn and we're marking centre back and centre front with pins.   We will then match those pins and put the edges of the neckline together until we reach the side quarter marks; this is not the shoulder seams.  The back-neck is actually shorter than the front, so we want the exact halfway point.

see, pins together on top of eachother

and you can see as the fabric moves along the halfway point is onto the front, past the shoulder seam.  Mark this with a pin too.  Do the same on the other side; you now have 4 pins in your neckline dividing it into quarters.

Now it is time to get our neck facing ready.  Mine is cut from the same fabric as the t-shirt and is slightly smaller than the neckline on the main pattern.   I'm folding it in half with the short ends together, right sides facing eachother and this is where I use my sewing machine for the first time to sew a 1/4" seam.   This won't see any real stretch so I'm using straight stitch.   Can you see more permanent marker?   I love that stuff!  On this machine the marker is covered with clear nail varnish to stop it wearing off the enamel paint.

I am now folding the neck facing wrong sides together and putting the first pin at the seam; this is the centre back.  I will find the centre front by putting that pin on the left, folding it at that point and flattening it; the far right will be the centre front.

Now, just like on the t-shirt I'm putting those 2 pins one on top of the other and the far edges are the other 2 quarter marks.  Place a pin on each.

Here we are with 4 pins; doesn't look like much at the moment, but....

Now we match the pins on the binding to the pins on the garment; be very careful to make sure that your seam on the binding is matched to the centre back; I've done it wrong once and I don't recommend it unless you like undoing sewing; I don't, lol.

Here, I am sewing the binding to the neckline from the right side of the garment.   I start near the centre back, and as I go I stretch the binding slightly so it fits the neckline of the t-shirt.  You don't want to stretch the neckline as you'll end up with a wavy look; best to go slow on this.  Also make sure to remove pins before they get near the blade; use your fingers on that point as a temporary pin.   If a pin goes under the blade at best you'll blunt your blade; at worst you could injure yourself, or put out the timing on your machine.   Both are expensive to fix, and damage to either could be permanent; so instead lets just be careful.

Once I've finished the neckline I like to pull the overlocking tails through the seam to secure them.  I use a tool which is made from a knitting machine hook; this one is fairly fine.   The main one I use has a dowel handle, but I couldn't find it for this picture.   You can just thread them onto a darning needle and pull them through that way.

  If you wanted to you could use your coverhem to make the seam lie flat, but I've never found it to be a problem when I'm wearing them.   Now look at that, a nice smooth neckline all finished; that's the hardest bit over in my opinion.

Now for the sleeves; most patterns you'll find the sleeve will have 2 notches.  One for the shoulder seam placement and the other will be echoed on the main garment.   You can see here I'm pointing at them; if you don't match them the sleeve won't sit correctly.   Some patterns are drafted in such a way that the sleeve is the same both sides; Kwik Sew is one that does this; I find a sleeve like the one above tends to fit better.  Match those notches, and make sure you have right sides together.   If you find that your right sides are together but the notches are on opposite sides of the garment, then swap your sleeves to the other side; you've got the left sleeve on the right side of the garment, or vice-versa.

You can see here the 3 pins I use.  One at the side seam, one at the shoulder seam, and one at the notch.

Making sure your raw edges stay together and if need be slightly stretching to fit, carefully sew around the sleeve seam, removing pins before you get to them again; make sure all notches are in the right places.

There, nice smooth seam.   Best part, you're almost done!

For the side seam I don't pin at all, I match the 2 sleeve hems together, and overlock down the side, also matching the underarm seams together; the internal corner is the only tricky bit as you go around that underarm seam.  As you approach it, straighten the two edges, the fabric will form a bubble to the left,  but should be flat and go through the machine nicely at the edge.

Keep going, hold the bottom hems together, if need be put slight tension on to keep both sides even.   I do this right from the beginning so don't normally have any seam movement and my edges are more often than not even.  As you did for the neckline, pull the overlocking ends into the overlocking seams, and you're done!

Isn't it lovely?  It sits better on me, cos unlike Bonnie here I don't have gaps in my middle.  I think I might possibly have to use some batting to fix that problem.

I've started eating raw garlic; I apologise for any odour, but it's part of the campaign to get my bowel back on my side.  Garlic kills the bad guys, but leaves the good guys alone; I will still have to repopulate, but going by the reaction so far I think it's working, but although I'm going to the loo a few times it's still much better than the normal IBS version.   I figure that's my system chucking out the bugs that last nights half clove killed off.   Last night I swallowed half a clove in one piece with milk.   After a little research today I went looking for salsa and failed to find it; instead I'm using a dried tomato and parmesan dip (which is yummy!).  I've taken probably half of the garlic so far and I'm going to stop there as it was a big bit and I don't want to go too fast.

Day 12 - cat issue resolved (we hope)

After some research, a little asking on the Nappy Network forum and some searching for the best price we now have a Sureflap Cat Door on the way; not cheap at $257.50 including post, but that was the cheapest price we found and included the glass adaptor so we can fit it in the back door hole.   Just hope like heck it fits; the only other type of door I found needed a much smaller hole and also cost about $100 more, eep!
Tonight I'm hoping the cats will both stay inside; at the moment I don't know where Star is, but Ray is inside and we have a litter tray as well so if she needs to go she can.  The cat door is now locked both ways.

In other news I've done some tidying today; all the drawers that I use in our bedroom are now tidy; there's three bags in the car of clothes that are either going to the rag bin or else to the Salvation Army; including 2 handknits that I really don't like; so hopefully they can find a new and appreciative home.

I'm doing a touch of knitting on my Central Park Hoodie tonight; for the first time I'm trying out cabling without a cable needle.  I've seen other tutorials, but they all seemed to leave the second lot of stitches sitting out there and hoping they'd not unravel.  This to be honest scared the crap out of me!   Then the other day I saw this on Life on Laffer and it suddenly made perfect sense.   I've tried it and it works!

I also tried making my first dryer ball today; I was using Gotland wool and I was expecting it to felt really easily, but it had other ideas.   I've got it sort of felted, but at this point I'm thinking I might have to use my needle felting equipment instead, at least to get it started.

In other news my Merino is dry so I'm hoping to start getting it all ready to spin tomorrow once I've done work, groceries and my run.   Boys are still being pretty well behaved for the holidays so I have some hope I might actually get to do it.   Since I've got a mix of fibre I'm considering making batts on my drum carder; wish me luck!

That Damned Cat!

Not ours, though if we didn't have them we wouldn't be having the problems we are.
A while back we locked our cat door one way only (out) so our cats could get out but the other local greedy cats couldn't get in.   Recently though I've been catching wiffs of cat pee and wasn't sure where it was coming from.   Yesterday it became obvious from the moment I walked into the lounge that we'd had a visitor as the smell was really strong and I traced it to the bean bags.  Fabreeze didn't do much to move the smell so the next nice day I'll have to wash them with the hose outside.
Last night at 4am there was a cat fight in our laundry, when I went in they'd scarpered, but not before leaving 6 separate spray trails in that room!   I've cleaned it up, but we're going to have to lock the cat door completely and put a litter tray down for a wee bit as a short term solution.  The long term solution is going to be expensive; we're going to get a microchip activated cat door.   Just hoping that Ray can still get in as I think her chip has moved a wee bit.
One of the collar activated ones won't work as our kitties have never worn collars and since they spend a lot of time in trees I don't want to risk that; lost collars get expensive and tangled cats are not pleasant either.

Day 10 Blogtoberfest - not according to plan

I had planned some tidying, a tutorial and some removal of clothes I no longer wear.  Instead I ended up working a fair bit of the day and I'm finally succumbing to the cold that George has been sharing with us so lovingly.   I have had it sitting there for over a week now, but today it sat down properly and I'm coughing and sneezing.   I could say exercise caused it as I started the C25K today, but I'm pretty sure it's not that.
Never mind, I got the boys to try on shin pads this morning and we have one pair.  Waiting on a phone call to say the second pair is in store to pick up.
Thomas is booked in for the chiropracter tomorrow morning, I've been working on him for ages to try and get things aligned better so I don't have to keep working on his back; it's really, really tight!
The boys had a great day today, this afternoon they got Xbox time and both of them stayed really well behaved all day!  If I keep feeling like this there may well be more Xbox time tomorrow too; not what I'd intended, but illness is a good reason, right?

Day 10 Blogtoberfest - a t-shirt

There will be tutorial for this later, but I forgot to post last night and need to get this one done before I start work.

I used an Ottobre pattern, but I put it together using my own method which I find works well for me. 
Also my needle hanger is now up on the back of the door

Did I say how much I love this?

Day 9 blogtoberfest

No sewing today, just lots of washing, dishes and work, oh and spraying seaweed feed on my fruit trees.   I did turn the heel on Thomas' socks last night so it's just the leg to go. 

This is Opal sock yarn, and I'm using Vintage Purls basic sock pattern which works out perfectly for Thomas' size 10 hoofs.  I had originally planned on making him grey socks, but when I found the second half of the Opal ball I decided to go with this instead.   This means I have 3 things on the needles, but 4 showing on Rav.  The other 2 WIP's are the Beekeepers Quilt, my Central Park Hoodie with Viking Cables; the 4th item is not actually cast on yet; but it's a fairly basic jersey with a zip placket in some fire coloured yarn that Ian fell for in my stash.   I really should put it on the needles.

Tomorrow I have another appointment with my alternative practitioner for my IBS; hoping we might be able to go to monthly appointments soon, fortnightly is getting expensive.  It is helping though, despite the peppermint issue I've had much less problems since going on this course of herbs and psyllium.   The boys are going to Orana Park tomorrow with the Autism Society so they'll have a ball.  I'm hoping to get my t-shirt sewn tomorrow and maybe some tidying done in the sewing room and our room.   I need to clear out a drawer to put my workout gear in.